Mother of 6-year-old school shooter charged with felony

If you’ll recall, this past January, 25-year-old teacher Abby Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest by one of her six-year-old students. This took place at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. You may also recall there are many layers to this story, such as school administrators allegedly ignoring warnings about the gun from school faculty, including Zwerner herself.

However, today I’ll be discussing a different layer of the story, and that’s the gun used in the shooting. As mentioned in my other posts about the shooting, the gun belonged to the child’s mother. The gun was purchased legally and said to be kept on a 6-foot-high shelf while being secured with a trigger lock.

On April 10, 2023, 25-year-old Deja Nicole Taylor was indicted on charges of felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a firearm so as to endanger a child. And, I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Typically, as I did with the Crumbleys, I would be begging prosecutors to charge the parents of school shooters if they allowed their guns to fall into the hands of their children. This time? Not so much.

Ms. Taylor’s attorney has said that his client has had several miscarriages. This includes an ectopic pregnancy that occurred in January 2022. According to the attorney, the ectopic pregnancy resulted in Taylor having postpartum depression, which they claim was a large factor leading up to the shooting.

Since I could never experience such a loss, I did some research on the subject. What I mostly found is that ectopic pregnancies do not tend to lead to postpartum depression. However, ectopic pregnancies are linked to PTSD, and in certain cases can last longer than a year or more. But, I can see how some people could confuse the two.

Now imagine going through PPD or PTSD while trying to take care of a child who’s has been diagnosed with behavioral and learning disabilities. I’m sure many more women can tell you about that, and many who did it alone. My main concern would be if Ms. Taylor was receiving any treatment for her condition, because if it wasn’t controlled, I could see a situation where the gun may have been left unattended. Her attention to detail could have been compromised, which could have resulted in the gun not being secured.

Again, treatment for such conditions isn’t easy to come by and is even harder to pay for.

Ms. Taylor and her attorney still claim they have no idea how her son was able to get his hands on the gun.

Now, am I saying this should excuse Ms. Taylor from her alleged actions? No. However, I think it should factor into her sentencing. I don’t think she should have the book thrown at her, but maybe a pamphlet instead.

Another reason I say that is because Ms. Taylor has taken responsibility for her son’s actions in public. Ms. Taylor appeared on Good Morning America earlier this month.

Deja Taylor told ABC’s Linsey Davis in the interview that as a parent, she accepts responsibility for the shooting and apologized to his teacher.

“That is my son, so I am as a parent, obviously, willing to take responsibility for him, because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.

This is unusual as historically, in my opinion, the parents of school shooters often refuse to apologize, putting the blame on everyone else but themselves. Not every parent of a school shooter needs to apologize. There are those who were even victims themselves, but there are also those who turned a blind eye to every red flag who should never stop apologizing, but I digress.

I will note though that Taylor’s attorney seems especially squirrelly when discussing the gun.

Davis pressed the family and family attorney – twice – on how the child accessed the gun.

When asked the first time, family attorney James Ellenson said, “Nobody knows.”

Davis asked Ellenson again.

“We’re not ready to discuss that at this point,” he said, adding, “I don’t know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun.”

Taylor’s son is said to be attending school elsewhere while in the custody of her grandfather. He is also said to be undergoing therapy.

Deja Taylor is looking at a max of six years in prison. A bench trial has been set for August 15, 2023.

(Sources)